Chapter 43: The True Great Terror, the Foundation of the Xuanwu Kingdom
The crimson land stretched endlessly at a glance.
In the distance, a black mountain range stood amidst the red earth, forming an incredibly stark contrast between the two colors.
The million-strong army of the Xuanwu Kingdom halted at the border of the crimson land. Even someone as powerful as the Left Emperor dared not step lightly into this territory.
Because right ahead lay the legendary Ancient Forbidden Ground.
The concrete dangers of the Ancient Forbidden Ground could not be fully explored, even by scouring through the oldest texts of the Xuanwu Kingdom.
The only record about the Ancient Forbidden Ground contained seven simple words.
“Great terror, certain d*ath.”
“Whoosh~”
The Left Emperor exhaled a breath of foul air, then waved his right hand, sending three humanoid puppets into the Ancient Forbidden Ground.
These three puppets were crafted from the entirety of the resources of the Xuanwu Kingdom.
Each puppet was capable of contending with strong powers at the Transformation Realm, and their defense was such that even a full-on attack from a Transformation Realm cultivator could not break through in a short time.
Sending these puppets to explore the Ancient Forbidden Ground was undoubtedly the safest and best method.
“Step, step, step!”
Under the control of the Left Emperor, the puppets cautiously stepped into the realm of the Ancient Forbidden Ground.
However, when the puppets entered the Ancient Forbidden Ground, the imagined dangers did not occur, and the puppets successfully advanced several dozen steps.
Seeing this, Zuo Xinghe couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief and smiled.
“It seems the Ancient Forbidden Ground isn’t as terrifying as imagined…”
“Whoosh~”
Before Zuo Xinghe could finish his sentence, the three humanoid puppets were suddenly blown away by a gentle breeze and turned to dust.
Faced with this sudden and unanticipated situation, everyone fell silent.
” gulp!”
Struggling to swallow a mouthful of saliva, Chen Changsheng felt his mouth twitch, wanting to ask the Left Emperor if he had seen what had just happened.
But seeing the Left Emperor’s cold expression, Chen Changsheng dismissed this thought.
As the puppet exploration method proved unviable, the Left Emperor waved his hand again.
The million-strong army of the Xuanwu Kingdom moved simultaneously, forming a profound and intricate formation.
They then gathered everyone’s power together, ultimately condensing a black spear that spanned over several dozen feet.
This method of combining everyone’s strength was one of the Xuanwu Kingdom’s hidden cards and the reason for their undefeated status in years of warfare.
“k*ll!”
The soldiers shouted in unison, a colossal roar that even shattered the clouds in the sky.
That spear, capable of obliterating everything, surged toward the black mountain range of the Ancient Forbidden Ground with an unstoppable momentum.
“Boom!”
The spear, conjured by the million soldiers, did not touch the black mountain range but instead solidly collided with an invisible barrier.
In response to this powerful attack, an incredibly complex silver array symbol glowed within the Ancient Forbidden Ground.
These symbols covered every inch of land in the Ancient Forbidden Ground.
Chen Changsheng, well-versed in formations, felt an immense headache just from a single glance, and his vision grew dark.
The backlash was so severe that it startled Chen Changsheng into averting his gaze, not daring to observe the supreme arrays within the Ancient Forbidden Ground.
“k*ll!”
Seeing they could not break through the unmatched array symbols of the Ancient Forbidden Ground, the general of the Xuanwu Kingdom shouted loudly again.
The million soldiers began to bleed from their seven orifices, forcibly increasing their strength at the cost of their lifeforce.
With a substantial infusion of vitality, the black spear turned bl**d-red, and its power increased several times over.
Under the desperate enhancement, the bl**d-red spear achieved some results.
The invisible barrier was pierced by the bl**d-red spear by an inch.
“Neigh~”
Just as everyone rejoiced over their recent success, the sound of a horse’s whinny rang in everyone’s ears.
Following that, a skeleton horse emerged from the ground, upon which sat a figure clad in bronze armor.
At first glance, it seemed like a human figure, but upon closer inspection, one would realize that there was nothing beneath the armor.
“Step, step, step!”
The bronze-armored figure riding the skeleton horse quickly charged toward the crowd, shattering the spear infused with the strength of a million soldiers with a single strike from a decayed battle spear.
Seeing this bizarre scene, Chen Changsheng felt a chill run down his spine.
As the bronze armor was about to charge in, the three old elders suddenly burst forth from the crowd.
With their initial move, they shook the mountains and changed the color of the heavens.
These three elders were the backbone of the Xuanwu Kingdom, each having survived for over fifteen hundred years.
The Left Emperor, nearing the end of his lifespan, planned to forcefully breach the Ancient Forbidden Ground.
The “foundation” of the Xuanwu Kingdom also sought to seize this opportunity to extend their lifespans.
Seeing the “foundation” make their move, the Left Emperor, who had held back until now, also sprung into action.
He operated the war chariot, channeling the power of his physical body to its utmost, actually creating a crack in the supreme arrays.
“Boom, boom, boom!”
The violent disturbances echoed in Chen Changsheng’s ears, and weak as he was, he could only curl up in a corner of the chariot, secretly glancing at everything around.
Seeing the Left Emperor fight madly, Chen Changsheng couldn’t help but marvel at the Left Emperor’s formidable power.
The cultivation methods on this land were quite complex; some focused on internal cultivation, while others emphasized external cultivation.
Among them, the Great Qian Dynasty was a standard for internal cultivation, with realms comprising Qi Training, Foundation Building, Gold Core, Nascent Soul, and Transformation.
The Xuanwu Kingdom, however, represented external cultivation, prioritizing physical strength.
The classification of external cultivation realms was simpler, labeled in basic tiers.
As for the criteria, they were judged based on the methods of one’s practice, yielding little overall discrepancy.
Though internal and external cultivations differed in methodologies and paths, their realms indeed corresponded one-to-one.
The first level of body refinement corresponded to the Qi Training stage, while the fifth level of body refinement corresponded to the Transformation stage.
Initially, when the Left Emperor expressed that he looked down on Master Yuhua, Chen Changsheng had speculated about the Left Emperor’s realm of power.
The Transformation stage was the fifth tier of cultivation, and for the Left Emperor to k*ll Master Yuhua so effortlessly, he must have reached at least the sixth tier of cultivation.
However, after witnessing the Left Emperor fully unleash his power, Chen Changsheng realized he had underestimated him.
The Left Emperor had thoroughly stepped into the seventh cultivation realm.
The only unfortunate aspect was that he might have only recently entered this realm.
“Sigh~”
A light sigh floated down from the black mountain range, and the three old elders, locked in battle with the bronze armor, instantly turned into bl**d mist.
Chen Changsheng: !!!
Seeing the Great Terror manifest, the momentum surrounding the Left Emperor intensified further.
“Sword, come!”
The Left Emperor shouted, then broke the space with his fist, directly pulling a rustic long sword out of the void.
The untethered bronze armor redirected its charge towards the Left Emperor.
“Swish!”
A sword Qi was unleashed, and the thousands of feet of sword energy instantly sliced the bronze armor into pieces.
This divine artifact was none other than the Xuanwu Kingdom’s treasured weapon, the True Martial Sword.
